WASHINGTON, DC — The Vice President is out $800,000 after he fell for a well-known Internet scam.

WASHINGTON, DC — The Vice President is out $800,000 after he fell for a well-known Internet scam.

Vice President Joe Biden reportedly said that he simply became curious when he received an e-mail promising him $20.5 million if he would only help out a long-lost relative identified as J.B. Biden with a little money up front.

Biden’s intern told WWN about the scammers’ ability to identify his relative by initials and that was what convinced the Vice President it was legitimate.

“That’s what him hooked,” She said. “He wanted to help out a relative he had never met, who wouldn’t do that?”

Here’s Biden telling Obama about the money he plans on making by helping a relative in Nigeria:

Biden reportedly mortgaged his house in Delaware and took a lien out on the family car, and ran through his wife’s 401K account.

“The retirement he was dreaming of — cruising and going around and seeing America — is pretty much gone for him right now,” sources close to Biden said. “Yes, he’ll be taken care of by the government, but he won’t have that extra ‘cushion’ that will allow him to live in luxury.”

Accountants in the Vice President’s office estimate it will take fifteen years to clear the debt that Biden accumulated in the more than two years he spent sending money to con artists in Nigeria.

Biden’s family, bank officials and even the President told him it was all a scam and begged her to stop, but Biden persisted because he became obsessed with getting paid at large sum of money ($40 million) for helping a relative he had never met, who was in dire trouble.

“He thought it would pay off one day, so he kept giving them money,” said a source close to the White House.

Here’s the “relative” Biden thought he was emailing in Nigeria:

The scheme is often called the “Nigerian scam” and it’s familiar to many people with e-mail accounts. It still exists and it still works.

Biden first sent $100 through an untraceable wire service as directed by the scammers. Then, more multimillion dollar promises followed so long as she sent more money.

The scammers sent Spears official-looking documents and certificates from the Bank of Nigeria and the United Nations. President Obama and ex=FBI Director Leon Panetta were also involved, the e-mails said, and needed his help.

They sent official-looking documents and certificates from the Bank of Nigeria and even from the United Nations, saying his payment was “guaranteed.”

Biden hopes that by being conned he will help raise awareness about internet scams.

Meanwhile, Biden is planning a trip to Nigeria to meet with his relative that he had never heard of before.